Press release: Home Office to apologise and compensate Asylum Aid’s client for four years delay
Asylum Aid’s client (referred to as EG), a 52-year-old man from Cote D’Ivoire seeking protection in the UK, will receive an apology and compensation from the Home Office for waiting four years and two months for a decision on his asylum claim. The client’s win comes on the back of Asylum Aid’s fight against one of the biggest problems in the UK asylum system – delays in decision making on asylum claims.
The charity had gone to court on behalf of our client, who had serious mental health problems as a result of his traumatic experiences and the delay in his asylum decision was impeding his recovery. Asylum Aid argued that the Home Office was breaching the Immigration Rules and our client’s human rights. Paragraph 333A of the Rules requires officials to make asylum decisions as soon as possible. It also requires the Home Office to give a timeframe for when a decision will be made, if it has not been taken within six months of the claim.
Our client claimed asylum in March 2019. In 2022, after the threat of judicial review, the Home Office said it would decide his claim within around 3 months. Without explanation, that deadline was passed, and the Home Office said a second time a decision would be made within 3 months. The second deadline passed, again without explanation, and a third timeframe – again of around 3 months – was given. At the end of 2022, our client brought judicial review of the failure to decide his claim. Despite this, the Home Office failed to take a decision within the third timeframe they had given. A decision on the asylum claim was only made after a judge granted our client permission to proceed with judicial review.
Our client’s case has now settled with the Home Office promising to issue an apology to him for the errors in his case and agreeing to pay him financial compensation. The Home Office also agreed to disregard the compensation paid when assessing our client for asylum support.
This case is significant. In 2019, the Home Office had abandoned its service standard of deciding 98% of asylum claims within 6 months. Even though decision-making became increasingly slow, the Home Office never issued written instructions to staff on giving timeframes for decisions. Our client’s case, and many other Asylum Aid clients, showed that the Home Office systems did not meet the requirements of the Home Office’s own Immigration Rules. Their systems were not geared to taking decisions as soon as possible, nor for giving reliable timeframes for when decisions would be made.
While the legal challenge was pending, the Home Office began making changes and in October 2023 they issued policy guidance called ‘Asylum decision-making prioritisation’.
This policy provided much-needed clarity to the process of prioritisations of asylum decisions. It made clear that expedition and prioritisation requests must be considered by the Home Office on a case-by-case basis and exceptional cases will be prioritised including those involving severe vulnerability, serious physical or mental health problems. The policy also requires officials to inform applicants of the outcome of the request to prioritise and expedite their claim. Importantly, the policy acknowledges the Home Office’s legal obligations to provide a timeframe as to when a decision is to be expected where a written request for an update is made to the Home Office.
According to the Home Office's evidence in our client’s case, a timeframe for asylum decision is determined “holistically” and on a case-by-case basis in conjunction with workflow and technical teams, who would assess the matters raised and select what they believe to be a reasonable timescale for all parties. But the evidence gathered by Asylum Aid shows that the Home Office still does not have an adequate system to provide realistic and reliable timeframes for a decision on an asylum claim pending more than 6 months. Indeed, many applicants are still not provided with a timeframe despite making specific requests to the Home Office.
The need for officials to comply with the rules by taking asylum decisions as soon as possible and giving reliable timeframes when they cannot take a decision within 6 months is particularly important given that more than 80,000 people have been waiting more than 6 months for a Home Office decision on their asylum claim.
Whilst the Home Office announced in January 2024 that the backlog of asylum claims lodged before June 2022 (‘legacy cases’) was ‘cleared’, the backlog of post-June 2022 asylum claims (‘flow cases’) now exceeds that of the pre-June 2022 backlog before it was “cleared”.
As of 31 December 2023, there were a total number of 83,254 asylum applicants (main applicants and dependents) awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months. According to the latest statistics published on 28 November 2024, there were 83,888 asylum applicants awaiting an initial decision for more than 6 months. The backlog of asylum applications waiting for an initial decision is now higher than it was in December 2023.
No timeframe was given by the Home Office for resolving the current backlog of asylum cases. The Home Office has not reintroduced a service standard for making asylum decisions.
Further legal challenges are to be expected. In particular, asylum applicants waiting for a decision for more than six months may challenge Home Office failures to give reliable timeframes.
Alison Pickup, Executive Director at Asylum Aid, said:
“This legal challenge was vital. Delay in asylum cases and the lack of clarity on timeframes not only takes a huge toll on the mental health and recovery of those who have survived some of the worst forms of cruelty, but also has a knock-on effect on the availability of legal aid solicitors in taking on other cases. The Labour government has inherited a backlog, but it has the opportunity to break this cycle and turn a new page on the asylum system. Investing in fair, reliable, timely asylum decision-making benefits everyone. Secure immigration status is fundamental for refugees to move on and rebuild their lives with dignity, instead of living in limbo for years. Reliable, fair and prompt decision-making cuts the costs of paying for officials and of supporting asylum-seekers denied permission to work. Ministers should make clear to officials at all levels that cases which meet the asylum rules should be granted, quickly.”
Press contact: kennith.rosario@helenbamber.org or media@asylumaid.org.uk
NOTE TO EDITORS:
EG was represented by Monika Glowacka, Rebecca Kuehler and Alison Pickup at Asylum Aid, instructing Simon Cox and Rowena Moffatt of Doughty Street Chambers.
Asylum Aid is a leading provider of high-quality legal representation to people with complex cases who are seeking asylum in the UK. For over 30 years, Asylum Aid has worked with survivors of trafficking and torture, stateless people, unaccompanied children, and other vulnerable people seeking asylum to help them gain legal protection in the UK. Since 2020, Asylum Aid is part of the Helen Bamber Foundation Group.